Enefit American Oil has teamed with Utah State University’s Uintah Basin Campus to allow the continued collection of meteorological information for use in a long-term, multi-agency study of the Basin’s air quality. Enefit’s EPA-compliant meteorological monitoring station in the Rabbit Mountain area in the southern Uintah Basin was built to collect 18 months of data required to eventually file for an air permit for the company’s planned oil shale project.

That work was completed last June and USU has operated the station since October. Enefit provides the university with access to the station at no charge as well as covering the utility costs.

USU and other agencies are in the third year of a multi-year study to assess how and why ozone builds up in the Uintah Basin during the winter. Initial findings draw a link between emissions from the area’s many oil and gas drilling rigs and cold-temperature inversions, which trap ozone near ground level. High levels of ozone can contribute to respiratory distress and other health conditions.

Plan to Protect Plant Species a Step Closer to Reality

Eight government agencies, with the support of several industry partners, including Enefit American Oil, have reached a tentative agreement to protect two species of sensitive plants with the intent of preventing them from being listed as threatened or endangered by the federal government. Such a listing could significantly affect the development of oil shale and other energy projects in eastern Utah and western Colorado.

The Graham’s and White River penstemon species are unique to the Uintah Basin and live on or near oil shale outcrops. The agreement sets aside more than 44,000 acres of protected penstemon conservation areas – including areas voluntarily contributed by private entities, including Enefit – and calls for a variety of additional studies and conservation activities to promote long-term survival while allowing managed economic development.

The Uintah County Commission approved the plan framework in March and the draft plan was submitted to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in April. The plan is expected to be published in the Federal Register later this month for public review and comment, with final approval coming this summer.

Jordan Oil Shale Symposium April 14-15

Enefit is sponsoring and helping to organize the 2nd Jordan International Oil Shale Symposium, to be held April 14-15 at the Dead Sea. Enefit will be featured with various presentations about the company’s oil shale project in Jordan, including handling environmental impacts, financing oil shale projects and implementing technology. One of the keynote presentations will be given by Enefit CEO Sandor Liive, who will talk about the company´s activities in Estonia, Jordan and Utah, and share the company´s plans to focus on shale oil and the associated cogeneration-based power production from oil shale.

Enefit with its Malaysian and Jordanian partners is developing two oil shale projects in Jordan, a 540-megawatt oil shale-fired power plant and a liquid fuels production facility. Major milestones were met last year in developing the power project. The project company, Attarat Power Company, appointed the Chinese Guangdong Power Engineering Power Corporation as the engineering, procurement and construction contractor, and selected Bank of China and Industrial Commercial Bank of China to arrange $1.4 billion of debt financing. Negotiations are ongoing with the government of Jordan to sign a power purchase agreement. Construction can start after reaching an agreement and finalizing financing. The power plant is scheduled to start generating electricity by the end of 2017.

Misconception-busters: Oil shale projects can’t possibly be economically viable over time, can they?

Yep, they can.

As this chart shows, the average inflation-adjusted price of a barrel of oil over the past 40 or so years has been about $48. Data from Enefit’s Estonian operations show an average operating cost of about $35 per barrel. The West Texas Intermediate price of a barrel of oil has been in the $80-100 range for most of the past five years. Once an oil shale industry is built (as in Estonia), its ongoing cash costs can withstand price fluctuations over time.

Enefit Relocates Vernal Office

We have relocated our Vernal office to the Utah State University-Uintah Basin campus. The new address is 320 N. Aggie Boulevard, Suite 138P, Vernal, Utah 84078. The phone number, 435-789-4024, remains the same.

Our mining engineer, Ben France, staffs the Vernal office. At this stage of our project, other staff and many of our team of consultants, are based in the Salt Lake City area, as are many of the permitting and regulatory agencies with whom we work closely. All project staff, though, visit the Uintah Basin on a regular basis as we continue our engineering studies and environmental plans. We are looking forward to the future when it makes sense for the project to have a larger presence in Vernal.

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